different between unkindness vs lambent

English

Etymology

unkind +? -ness

Noun

unkindness (countable and uncountable, plural unkindnesses)

1. (uncountable) The state or quality of being unkind.
2. (countable) An unkind act.
3. (countable) The collective noun for ravens
   • 2006, Kate Forsyth, The Shining City: Book Two of Rhiannon's Ride, Roc (2006), ?ISBN, unnumbered page:

     All Olwynne could remember, though, was her father falling away from her into some deep pit, his black wings bent over his face, and then hundreds of ravens, an unkindness of ravens, plummeting from the sky to peck out her eyes.

   • 2007, Elizabeth Haydon, The Thief Queen's Daughter, Starscape Books (2007), ?ISBN, page 228:

     "There's an unkindness of ravens that roosts on top of the guild. Their numbers are growing by the day. Aren't they spectacular?

   • 2010, Rick Burroughs, Alan Wake, Tor Books (2010), ?ISBN, page 38:

     A raven cawed somewhere up ahead, and its cry was answered by others, an unkindness of ravens on all sides.

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:unkindness.

English

Etymology

From Latin lamb?ns, present participle of lamb? (“lick”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, US) IPA^(key): /?læmb?nt/

Adjective

lambent (comparative more lambent, superlative most lambent)

1. Brushing or flickering gently over a surface.
   • 1800, William Cowper, The Task, Book VI: "The Winter Walk at Noon", Poems, J. Johnson, page 232,

     No foe to man / Lurks in the ?erpent now: the mother ?ees, / And ?miles to ?ee, her infant's playful hand / Stretch'd forth to dally with the cre?ted worm, / To ?troke his azure neck, or to receive / The lambent homage of his arrowy tongue.

   • 1977, Stephen R. Donaldson, Lord Foul’s Bane, page 77

     “As they walked together between the houses, Lena’s smooth arm brushed his. His skin felt lambent at the touch.”

2. Glowing or luminous, but lacking heat.
   • 1839, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Jonathan Birch (translator), Faust: A Tragedy, Black and Armstrong, page 127,

     The Witch, with much ceremony, fills the basin. As FAUST is about to raise it to his lips, it emits a clear flame.
     MEPHISTOPHELES. Quick! quickly down with it!—no breathing time allowed! […] And does a lambent flame prevent thee quaff?
3. (figuratively) Exhibiting lightness or brilliance of wit; clever or witty without unkindness.

   Antonyms: biting, cutting

Translations

Derived terms

• lambency
• lambently

Further reading

• “lambent”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–present.

Latin

Verb

lambent

1. third-person plural future active indicative of lamb?